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[0:00] A pastor's reflections, pillars of permanence. Exodus 24, 4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning,! and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

[0:18] 1 Kings 7, 21. And he, Solomon, set up the pillars in the porch of the temple, and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof, Joachim, he will establish.

[0:30] And he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof, Boaz, fleetness. Psalm 18, 2. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

[0:52] God is a God of eternal things. His works are not temporary, and He is not a God who does things half measure. His plans are not begun, and left unfinished.

[1:03] When God went about to establish the people of Israel as a nation, it was not some random moment in history, where events just happened to line up with Israel's desire to be delivered from Egypt.

[1:16] No, on the contrary, it was God who initiated, arranged, and ordained the circumstances that surrounded Israel's deliverance. In Exodus 24, Israel is still at the base of the mount of God, and still in the process of receiving the commands of God.

[1:35] Just as Israel's deliverance was not happenstance, neither was the giving of God's commands. The word that came to the people from God was perfectly prepared for the people of God.

[1:49] Moses faithfully received the word from God, and then rehearsed that word to the people. After doing so, he then prepares for them an altar, by which they might approach God, and enter into covenant with God.

[2:03] Moses has obeyed God, and delivered the word of God, so that the people might know God's will. And he has then built them an altar, so that the people might approach God by sacrifice and covenant.

[2:16] However, Moses then goes above and beyond, by doing something that is not specifically a part of the instructions he receives from God. Moses carves and sets up twelve pillars at the place of the altar.

[2:31] Why? God understands the permanence that is associated with the things that come from him. He knows his word is unchanging, his covenant unending, and his chosen people never to be unchosen.

[2:45] But sometimes that truth, and that permanence, is not so easily understood by his people. Moses was not commanded by God to build a pillar for each of the tribes of Israel.

[2:58] But in response to understanding God's heart, Moses is wanting to convey to God's people the permanence of the relationship that they have just entered into with God.

[3:09] Those pillars would long outlast the people present at their erecting, and in like manner, God's covenant with his people would long outlast any of God's people.

[3:19] You and I have also entered into covenant with our God. Through the word and sacrifice, Jesus, our deliverer, has led us out of bondage and into a new covenant of love and relationship with our God.

[3:34] The permanence of that relationship is never in question with God. However, just like Israel, we too need to be reminded that what God erects is not temporary, but everlasting.

[3:50] Ephesians 2.20-22 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

[4:11] Revelation 3.12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. He shall be a pillar of permanence.

[4:26] Father, thank you for sending your Son into this world with an eternal mission of permanence. Thank you that the life won upon the cross is not temporary, but eternal. Thank you for erecting us, your people, to be permanent pillars in your kingdom.

[4:41]  Amen.